As ants are ubiquitous, active, fascinating, and generally quite easy to watch, they are often one of the first creatures a young budding naturalist comes to discover. Unfortunately, much of the literature about them is written by those who already have a considerable level of understanding of these creatures (the ants, not the budding naturalists) for others of similar levels of expertise.

Fortunately – for those in New England at least but certainly on a more general level as well for anyone in any location, the new book A Field Guide to the Ants of New England by Aaron M. Ellison, Nicholas J. Gotelli, Elizabeth J. Farnsworth, and Gary D. Alpert from Yale University Press promises to help all those interested make the leap from simple unenlightened curiosity to a state of well-informed appreciation of these “little things that run the world.”